Chapter 51 - Journey Resumes
Zwei's plan had been to use his shadow servants to lure Holman out of his home, deliberately anger Holman so that he fully activated the Blood Palace, thereby exposing the Blood Palace's core, and then have Alyssa destroy the core. At the same time, Zwei would also use holy water to suppress Holman and land the killing blow.
Although Zwei seemed to have won with little effort this time, and everything appeared to have gone according to his plan, the reality wasn't so simple.
In truth, the Blood Palace was a rare magic barrier that even Intermediate Magicians wouldn't recognize. Zwei could identify it only because of the knowledge he had received when he got promoted to Basic Magician. The information even included the method to expose the Blood Palace's weakness.
Moreover, even though Holman was only a vampire baron, he was still a vampire. Meanwhile, almost all vampires trained in both martial arts and magic. They had an immense advantage over the average magician. In a one-on-one fight, any other Basic Magician wouldn't stand a chance against Holman. They wouldn't even be able to land a hit on the vampire, much less provoke him into fully activating the Blood Palace.
One could say that aside from information and strength, Zwei had also relied on a bit of luck to achieve his victory.
As for the walking corpses… After the holy water restricted Holman's strength, he had lost control over his walking corpses. As a result, the guards, who were also veterans of the battlefield, easily turned their former comrades into mincemeat.
Regardless of the process, a victory was a victory.
Afterward, Father Wesley arrived at the scene and verified that Holman was indeed a vampire. And when the priest cut off one of Holman's fingers, placed it under the sun, and let it turn into dust before everyone's eyes, Zwei had instantly gone from an obscure magician to a hero worshipped by everyone in Byk Town.
This was especially true for the townspeople who had been in the chapel when Zwei had made his declaration. They never thought that this young magician would actually carry out his promise to resolve the town's vampire problem in just one night.
Zwei was basically the hero mentioned in chivalric novels!
Unfortunately, this hero still had important matters to deal with, and he decided to leave town in the morning, after settling the vampire incident.
"Actually, you can still stay for a while," Father Wesley said as he looked regretfully at Zwei, who was ready to depart. "After the barrier disappeared, I sent a messenger kite to report to the Church headquarters for the Noeg Region. A reply should come very soon, and I think an appropriate reward will come with it… With how many residents you saved in Byk Town, even awarding you with the Sacred Iron Cross wouldn't be a problem."
"If possible, I would naturally wish to stay a little longer and ask Father Wesley about some of the Church's teachings. However, I have an important matter at hand, so I have no choice but to resume my journey immediately," Zwei apologized in a tone that was neither humble nor arrogant. He displayed none of the arrogance and superiority one would normally find in a person who had just become the hero of a town.
"That is really a shame, then," Father Wesley said as he wiped imaginary tears from the corner of his eyes. "May the Almighty Lord bless you."
After saying goodbye to Tony Wesley, Zwei led Alyssa and Tio to regroup with Old John. The party then resumed their journey to Horador City.
"Teacher, why would you want to befriend that hypocritical person?" Alyssa suddenly asked during the journey, apparently unhappy. "I don't know why, but I can't help but find that person disgusting."
Looking at his student's cute frown, Zwei smiled involuntarily.
However, his reaction evidently made the little girl even more depressed; her cheeks bulged like a squirrel's.
"Miss Alyssa, Lord Zwei naturally has a reason for doing so." The person that replied to Alyssa wasn't Zwei, but Old John instead. After this vampire incident, although he had grown even more respectful toward Zwei, he had also stopped acting fearful around the magician, unlike before. Now, he could speak much more naturally around Zwei.
"Grandpa John, do you know the reason?" Alyssa and Old John were from the same village, so of course, she wouldn't regard him as an outsider. Immediately, she leaned against the front of the cart and curiously questioned Old John.
Old John first sneaked a glance at Zwei. When the latter didn't display any dissatisfaction, he felt relieved and explained, "Lord Zwei isn't trying to befriend Lord Wesley, but the Church behind Lord Wesley. The bigshots in the Church are people that shouldn't be offended. Not to mention, Horador has a Church branch in it too. If Lord Zwei does Lord Wesley a favor now, the treatment Lord Zwei will receive in Horador City's chapel would certainly be better than before."
Old John was a tumbleweed who had traveled to many places. He also possessed a wealth of experience and naturally knew plenty about the complexities of society.
Although Zwei found Old John's explanation inaccurate in certain places, he still nodded in agreement and said, "It's mostly like that. Alyssa, you must remember that having more friends means having more paths to take in the future. A great magician definitely isn't one who walks alone. Only by communicating with various people can you improve yourself much more quickly."
While caressing the long silver hair of the girl sleeping on his lap, Zwei lectured Alyssa, "Of course, there are many kinds of friends in life, as well. Once your knowledge of society increases, you'll naturally understand what I'm talking about."
"Mhm, I understand." After sending Tio an envious look, Alyssa nodded obediently to Zwei.
Upon seeing this, Zwei revealed a satisfied smile and stopped talking.
Zwei had cast spells nonstop during his fight with Holman last night, and it had placed a huge burden on his mental state. In fact, after returning to Old Vita's home last night, he had collapsed onto his bed without even taking a bath first.
Then, after waking up this morning, he was caught by Byk Town's residents and ended up drowning in their words of gratitude and support. He didn't even get to have breakfast before the whole morning went by.
Only with great difficulty did he manage to grab ahold of Tony Wesley, say his farewells, and flee the frenzied town.
In other words, until now, he still hadn't found time to check whether his success in killing a vampire baron had led to any changes to the Magic Academy System.